Twenty reporters from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco and Libya will launch the Cairo-based “Free Media Workers Union” in June, an initiative supported by Egyptian-American sociologist and human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim.

Ibrahim, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2001 for ”tarnishing the image of Egypt,” will offer the group logistical assistance from his Ibn Khaldun research centre. He served a year in jail before being freed on appeal.

“We encourage this initiative because we need more pluralism in our societies -- the situation is just getting worse,” Ibrahim told AFP.

The watchdog body aims to “chart and expose violations of freedom of expression... and contribute to the current efforts to abolish legislation that restricts freedom,” founder Yussef Abdel Latif, a journalist for the London-based paper Al-Moraqeb Al-Arabi, told reporters.

The group, which is funded by the current members, will also offer support and financial assistance to the families of jailed reporters.